Mythomagic & Ice Cream
by midnightmarina
Summary: Basically a Percico AU wherein Percy meets Nico in a comic book store; they get ice cream. Rachel becomes a Percico shipper.


**WARNING: This is a slash. BoyxBoy. Don't like it, don't read it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series—Rick Riordan does. Trust me; if I were Rick, Percico would already be canon. **

**ADDITIONAL NOTES: Sorry if characters are OOC. **

**Setting: Okay so this is an AU (If you hadn't already guessed) wherein Percy is 19 years old and Nico is 18. I imagine it taking place at 10:00pm, but whatever you imagine is good~**

* * *

"Percy, wait!" Annabeth Chase cried. Percy had just walked into a diner, where Annabeth and he had mutually agreed to meet earlier, only to walk in and find Annabeth, his soon-to-be-ex girlfriend, kissing some random blonde male with a scar marring his face.

He turned around to face her—Percy had been about to walk out when she had noticed him gaping at them—, and said, "Wait for _what_, Annabeth?" It was a rhetorical question. "Wait here, so that I can watch you and that guy" –He threw his hand upwards in the guy's general direction—"make out? Yeah, I don't think so. I _trusted_ you, 'Beth. We're over." And with that, Percy strode away and out of the diner, seething. Here he was, thinking that Annabeth loved him, and that he… well, not loved her back, exactly. No, Annabeth wasn't really, now that Percy thought about it, his type.

After walking for a few blocks, wallowing in self-pity, Percy decided—and a wise decision at that—that he needed to get his mind off of Annabeth. Making a snap decision, he walked into a comic book store that he'd never seen before. A chime went off as Percy entered, and the clerk, an extremely bred looking girl with her feet up on the checkout desk, her long, chocolate hair pulled back into a messy bun with a pencil lazily stuck into it, nodded a 'hi' to him. Percy nodded back politely, raising his left hand up in a lazy wave, and surveyed the store. Comic books, action figures, and shirts with superhero symbols on them were on the left, while movies, CDs, and game-looking things were sprawled out in messy piles on the right. At the back, there was a large display set up for some game. Percy, being curious, decided to go check it out, thinking, _Why not?_

As he got closer to the back, Percy realized that it was a rather large display for some Greek mythology card game: Mythomagic. Percy, who had almost always been interested in such things as Greek mythology, was intrigued. He stopped in front of a shelf of mini statuettes of various gods and goddesses; the Poseidon figurine seemed to stare down at Percy with his wise, kind, sea green eyes. Percy, for no apparent reason, smiled. He reached his arm up towards the Poseidon figurine, grabbed it, and stared down at it. It was quite a simple figurine, really: the Poseidon had a dark brown beard and hair; a simple sea foam colored toga; a large golden trident in his left hand; a cresting wave behind him; and sea green eyes that looked eerily similar to Percy's.

Percy turned around, only to immediately collide with somebody. The person in question, a teenage boy perhaps only a year or, at most, two younger than Percy, wearing a black skull t-shirt, black skinny jeans, black sneakers, and a dark brown aviators jacket, with a head full of messy black hair and pale skin, stumbled backwards a few steps. "_Cazzo,_" the boy muttered to himself before saying, "Watch where you're going!" to Percy, who had also staggered backwards a bit.

Percy took a tentative step towards the teen, and, placing a hand gingerly on his shoulder, asked, "Are you okay?"

The boy glanced nervously over at Percy's hand. "I- I'm fine," he replied, stuttering a bit. "Uh… My name's Nico. Nico di Angelo." He spoke with a slight Italian accent.

Percy smiled and let his hand drop from the now flustered teen's shoulder. "Percy Jackson." He offered his right hand to Nico, and they shook hands. Percy noticed that Nico's hand was strangely cold.

"So, you're into Mythomagic?" Percy asked, pulling his hand away from Nico's and placing it at the nape of his neck, breaking their awkward silence.

"Y-yeah," Nico replied. "I- I've always been into Greek mythology, you know?"

Percy found himself smiling. "Funny; _I've_ always been interested in Greek mythology, too," he said, and the corners of Nico's lips turned slightly upwards in an almost-smile.

"W-who's your favorite god or goddess?" the pale boy asked, a smile now evident in his voice.

Percy laughed. "Um, probably Poseidon," he answered honestly. "What about you? I mean, who's your favorite god or goddess?"

Nico bit his lower lip in thought. "Hades," he answered back nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders.

Percy's mouth tilted up in a half-smile. "Figures," he said, gesturing to the way that Nico was dressed: all black, take away the dark brown jacket. Nico blushed lightly.

Percy got an idea. "Hey," he said to Nico, who promptly looked up at the taller boy's face, "how about we go get something to eat, or something? I'm super hungry, and… well, I like having you as company." Percy's cheeks tinged pink.

Nico, who was still faintly blushing, nodded. "Yeah, I could go for some food," he said calmly, although Percy could tell that Nico was as excited—and as nervous—as he was.

Percy smiled again. "Okay," he said with blithe, "just… just let me but this," he added, holding up the Poseidon statuette for the paler boy to see.

Nico smirked. "Sure," he said, and the two boys began to walk towards the cash register at the front of the store.

Percy and Nico walked out of the comic book store together, Nico snickering at some joke that Percy had just made. Percy grinned. He felt so… _at ease_ around Nico—something that he'd never felt with Annabeth before. _Stop comparing him to Annabeth,_ Percy thought, scolding himself mentally. _It's not like he'd ever… like you would ever…_

The taller boy shook his head as if to banish his thoughts, and turned to face Nico as he excitedly told Percy about how historians believed that the mythological Calypso's island was widely thought to have been actually located on Malta, a small island south of Sicily. The pair eventually made their way to a diner—mind you, not the same one as Percy had last seen his ex-girlfriend—and grabbed a seat at a booth. The awkward part was, said diner was full of couples: a girl and a boy holding hands across the table and gazing into each other's eyes romantically at one booth; two guys smiling at each other flirtatiously in one corner of the room; even one couple openly making out in a booth three down from the one that Nico and Percy had picked out.

Percy found himself blushing. "Maybe... maybe we should find a different place," he muttered.

This made the pale skinned boy smirk suggestively. "Why?" he asked. "Afraid that somebody will mistake us for a couple?" Nico slid into a seat, looking up at Percy as though to challenge him.

And so Percy sat. A redheaded waitress bounced up to them moments later, shoving a menu into their hands, and she announced, "My name's Rachel Elizabeth Dare; I'll be your server tonight. I'll just give you guys a few minutes to figure out what you want." With a not-so-subtle wink, Rachel flounced away, her red curls cascading elegantly down her back.

Percy watched as the somewhat flustered male across from his stared down at the menu that he was given. "So," said Percy, in an attempt to break the awkward silence between them, "what do you feel like having?"

Nico bit his bottom lip. "Um," he said. "I don't know… What about you?"

Percy grinned childishly. "Ice cream!" he replied simply, coaxing a genuine smile out of the paler boy.

"Why the hell not." Nico smiled. "I- I think that I'll get that, too, actually, I guess."

Just then, their waitress—Rachel Elizabeth Dare—showed up at their booth. "Ready to order now?" she asked, pulling out a heavily doodled-on notepad from the pocket of her black apron.

Percy looked at Nico, then back at Rachel. "Yeah," he said, "he and I'll both get an ice cream sundae." Nico nodded to confirm this.

Rachel grinned suggestively. "To share?"

Nico and Percy both blushed furiously, which resulted in Rachel snickering. "What…? I- no, we're not going to share! We aren't even… I mean, he wouldn't ever—never mind; two!" Nico sputtered, panicking slightly. Despite himself, Percy found himself thinking that this—Nico being all panicked and worked up over nothing—was adorable.

A sly grin spread across Rachel's face. "Okay," she said, on the brink of giggling, and turned away to head towards the diner's kitchen.

Percy grimaced at Nico, who was still vaguely blushing. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "I don't—she was just teasing."

Nico dropped his gaze, feigning embarrassment. "Yeah… you're right."

They continued to sit in an awkward silence until Rachel appeared again, placing two ice cream sundaes on their table in front of them. For a change, however, their feisty server said nothing; she just placed the two sundaes down and left them alone.

Nico watched as Percy pulled his ice cream closer to him. Nico then followed suit, dipping his spoon into his bowl and taking a mouthful, all the while maintaining eye contact with the older teen.

Percy stared at Nico's mouth for a few painstakingly long, awkward seconds before he realized what it was that he was doing and dropping his gaze to his sundae, toying absentmindedly with his spoon. _Great job,_ he thought. Percy slapped himself repeatedly in his mind. _Now Nico probably thinks that you're some sort of creepy, older man; he probably thinks that I'm—_

"Percy?" Nico said tentatively, interrupting Percy's thoughts. "Uh… Are- are you okay? You've been looking down for like two minutes straight now." Was it just Percy's imagination, or—no, Nico was definitely blushing; had he caught Percy staring at him? _Get a grip,_ Percy thought, chiding himself yet again.

"Oh, uh… I- I was just thinking," Percy stammered.

Nico looked unsure, and slightly wary, but he pursed his lips and nodded once. The pale teen went back to eating his ice cream.

Feeling awkward, Percy picked up his spoon and took a large bite of his ice cream. The two boys went on like that for a while, what with the taking a bite of ice cream, looking up at the other, looking _down_ when noticed by the other, and then blushing, only to repeat the cycle.

However, five minutes later, Nico spoke up: "Well, _this_ isn't awkward at all."

Percy chuckled somewhat nervously. "Uh… Y-yeah. I'm just- kind of—I like you," he blurted out suddenly.

Nico blushed and raised one eyebrow. "Um," he began, "I like you, too?"

Percy, who was full out blushing as of now, shook his head vigorously. "N-not like that. I- I _like_-like you."

"Uh… okay," Nico said, seemingly unfazed. He, too, was now full out blushing; the tips of his ears tinted pink.

The older boy dropped his gaze, embarrassed. He felt like kicking himself.

But then, Nico di Angelo began to snicker. "Really, Percy?" he asked between snorts. "You _like-_like me? God; we're not in grade four."

Unsure at first, Percy chuckled. "Uh- heheh… yeah. But I- I still do, y'know, and… God, what am I saying…? I guess that I—"

Nico surprised Percy by leaning across the table and giving the taller, sea green-eyed boy a short, sweet peck on the cheek. "I like you, too," he repeated, his own cheeks firing up again.

Percy put a hand on the cheek that Nico had kissed as if to hold it there. He grinned cheekily, making Nico roll his eyes and casually lift his spoon to his mouth, already working on polishing off the last bits of his sundae.

As soon as Percy had dropped his spoon into his now-empty bowl, Rachel came rushing over, as if she had been watching them the entire time—and, in actuality, she probably _had_—and beamed at the two of them like they were her baby chicks and she their proud mother hen. "Aww!" she cooed, clasping her hands together slightly below her chin. "You guys are so _cute_ together!" The two boys blushed, and Rachel winked at them both, whisking their bowls away from them. "Anything else I can get for you?"

Nico and Percy exchanged glances, their eyes both saying to the other, _Let's get out of here._

It was Percy that tore his gaze away first. "Nope," he said casually, completely ignoring the fact that Nico and he had just been staring at each other as lustfully as they had been.

Rachel smirked. "I'll get the bill, then," she said, and left the two alone again to do just that. Two or three minutes later, she appeared again, startling Nico and Percy out of their staring-at-each-other coma, and slapped the bill down on the table; it was $6.

Before Nico could even fish out some change from the pocket of his black skinny jeans, Percy already handed Rachel a $10 bill. Rachel smiled and winked again. She winked a lot, Percy had noticed. "Have a good night, you two!" she said, vaguely suggestively, and sauntered off.

Percy and Nico then exited the diner, and, after a few seconds of silence, Percy grabbed Nico's hand and entwined his fingers with the pale boy's thin ones. Nico looked up at Percy, surprised and blushing, but nevertheless tightened his grip on Percy's hand. They walked down the sidewalk, Percy subconsciously leading Nico towards his apartment, like that: hand in hand, smiling, basking in the other's company.


End file.
